Strategies for extraction of drugs from whole blood

Introduction

Whole blood is often the specimen of choice for detection of drugs in the forensic laboratory. Samples are typically extracted to remove interferences and isolate the analytes of interest prior to GC-MS or LC-MS/MS analysis. Sample clean-up reduces interferences that can suppress MS response and decrease column lifetime or clog chromatography instrumentation. Here two “pass through” solid phase extraction techniques (protein removal/phospholipid depletion and dual mode extraction) and supported liquid extraction were evaluated for a group of about 100 compounds in whole blood. These DOA compounds included drugs from multiple drug classes: anticonvulsants, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, opioids, antidepressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, cannabinoids and antipsychotics.

Literature number: P210.V.1